Protected area in Poland

Hello again!

A really good video to identify adjectives! Just that, write down the adjectives you understand, if possible, followed by their corresponding nouns.

Some of you have done this activity already, so I'll be posting your answers in the comments. I'll be posting the answers in a week or so, or when I consider you've participated enough. So, come on, don't just wait for the key, and write your exercise in the comments!

The video is on how a protected area in Poland threatened by the construction of a highway was saved by environmentalists.

Enjoy it!

Looking at the night sky

Hello everyone!

A sort of popular demand has triggered this post. The video on Orion and its legends!

Let's remember the questions to be answered here:

1. Check the pronunciation of "Orion" before you watch the video. My question here for the comments is going to be: where did you check that pronunciation? I hope you give different answers so we pool together a number of pronunciation resources.

2. Name an adverb+adjective collocation used in the video to describe Orion.

3. What are the legends of Orion according to a) the Egyptians, b) a native American tribe, and c) aborigines in Australia?

So, I'd be delighted to see your answers in the comments. Don't worry about being wrong or right, you're closer than you think to the right answer most of the time!

Enjoy the video!

Visit Britain... with adjectives!

Hi everyone!

Oh, back to the hustle and bustle of everyday activity! This is exciting! Looking back at the latest entries I've noticed they're from the month of April! Shame on me!

Anyway, I hope we all get down to work again with as much enthusiasm as last year! Look at all those exclamation marks!

This is a video that should be familiar to you: the 60-second invitation to visit Britain. It features a number of adjectives that you have to find.

Transcript, as usual: in the comments, in a couple of days or three, to give you time to do the activity and comment if possible.

Visit Britain!

Inside the Great Mosque

Back from the break! I hope you had time to rest and got new batteries for the (short) rest of the year!

Again with the invaluable help of Encarna first, then Irene (I actually corrected some details from my own transcription, thank you to both!) we can give you this video with a full transcript in the comments. It's part of a series about art in the South of Spain. Some of you have already watched the video, but now it's time to enjoy it and work a little with it.

Gap-filling for the activities, with more than one word per gap. Answers, as usual, in the comments, although you can always check with the transcript.

Enjoy!

1. The effect of mirrored columns intends to make the visitor feel _______________ and _______________ .

2. The designers could only use architectural forms as Islam bans the _______________.

3. Islam being a religion without hierarchy, the architects could create a feeling of _______________ in those who entered and prayed.

4. Abd ar-Rahman considered that what the palm tree had in common with him was his condition as _______________.

5. The Catholic cathedral was built by dismantling _______________ of the Mosque.

6. The Emperor Charles V realised it had been a mistake, even though he had _______________ himself.

7. The historian believes that the Catholic cathedral represents how one set of religious values was _______________.

Travel Apps

Hi everyone!

A very short video but with a challenging activity, as some of the vocabulary used is very specific.

1. What cities does Zagat to Go cover?

2.What does Flight Track Pro offer?

3. Can you describe what Trip Journal offers?

Which of these apps is the most useful, do you think?

As usual, answers and doubts in the comments.

Enjoy!

The Berlin Philharmonic

Here we go again with some activities that may ring a bell to some of you. I am posting it here to give you the transcript (in the comments). Thank you very much to Encarna for a transcription of part of the video, and to Irene for astonishing research work on the piece played by Anne-Sophie Mutter on the video.

Sorry for not having been able to subtitle it, I may try again one of these days!

So enjoy it as it is!

As activities, I propose answering the following questions:

1. How do the different people describe the sound of the orchestra from minute 1:30 to 2:00?

2. How does conducting compare to horseriding?

3. How many chief conductors of the Berlin Philharmonic has there been?

4. Where do the people who watch the Berlin Philharmonic come from?

5. Why does Simon Rattle fit in so well with this orchestra, according to the horn?

6. Throughout the 20th century, what has changed and what has remained in the orchestra?

7. Why wasn't this conductor very well received at the beginning?

8. Find an example of a second conditional.

9. What does Simon Rattle compare their work with at the end of the video?

Feel free to ask any questions of comprehension.

Good listening!

Travelling to Japan

A kind look at Japan. The proposed exercised (which must be familiar to some of you) is

1. to list the many collocations with adjectives that appear in the video

2. to transcribe sentences that do not start with the subject

Answers in the comments, as usual. And the key in a week or so...

Enjoy!

Agatha Christie Sketch: sentence order

A really really funny Monty Python sketch. Apart from the absurd, there are some interesting language features in this little piece. I suggest trying to decipher inspector Tiger's crazy variations of the first sentence. Can you transcribe some of them?

Enjoy! By the way: Who do you think is the murderer?

Answers, as usual, in the comments.

The IT Crowd: team players!

Back again with some brief pieces of the hilarious BBC series The IT Crowd. In this episode, which is the first one, Jen goes to an interview where what she has included in her CV turns against her.

Some vocabulary you may need for this piece:

a stare

to know your stuff

As you can imagine, her relationship with the IT team is not precisely great, so they decide to tell their boss that it's not working out for them. Do you remember the collocation, "to work as a team"? Well, you'll hear it a couple of times here.

This second video is subtitled. Some vocabulary you may want to look up before watching:

to escort

the premises (do you remember what it means?)

recruitment

to get on like a house on fire:

http://www.oxfordadvancedlearnersdictionary.com/dictionary/get+on+like+a+house+on+fire#house_1

Enjoy!

(dedicated to all the IT technicians and engineers in our classes)

BBC Wildlife

Hello everyone!

I'm getting quite addicted to the BBC Worldwide channel in Youtube. The video I bring you today is part of a BBC Worldwide documentary. Let's work on some of the complex structure "ingredients" that we have been seeing in class, as well as some vocabulary:

Phrasal verbs and verb+preposition

Give the full context for these verbs. What do they mean?

to stretch up:

to head for:

to bring up:

to pull up:

Finding complex structures

Find an instance of:

A relative clause

A participle clause

Finding collocations

How many instances of adverb+adjective can you find? How many adjectives?

Find a new meaning for the verb "to claim", providing its context.

Enjoy!

BBC News - student fees rise

Hello everyone!

The video for today was already seen as one of the "daily videos" for Avanzado 2. I have been trying to subtitle it but try as I might, there is always something wrong. Encarna had so kindly provided us with a transcript, and I don't want to waste it, so we'll do it the old way: I'll give you the link to the video, and post the transcript as a comment.

The video is in BBC News, and it's usually a pain to load. Please insist, refresh and refresh until it loads.

Some comprehension questions:

What is the cost of Theresa's university studies?

What do students have to do in Dani's class?

Why is the student community important in Maastricht?

What's the difference between local students and overseas students according to Nijls?

When they graduate, what are the advantages that the students at Maastricht will have over other British students?

Enjoy (again)!

A Bit of Fry and Laurie

A little video in which the meaning of the verb "to claim" is very clear. Let's remember what the dictionary says:

1 [transitive] to say that something is true although it has not been proved and other people may not believe it

claim (that)… He claims (that) he was not given a fair hearing.claim (somebody/something) to be/do something I don't claim to be an expert.claim something Scientists are claiming a major breakthrough in the fight against cancer.it is claimed that… It was claimed that some doctors were working 80 hours a week.

In this video,

1. What did the psychic claim?

2. What did he not claim?

So, I continue with my vindication of British humour. And a good opportunity to see Hugh Laurie outside his role of Dr.House (and a lot younger, too!)

Enjoy!

Miranda's Best Friend: Tim the Toastman

Second installment of this hilarious programme: did Miranda Hart have a friend made of toast? Try to guess if it's true or just a lie, both with and without subtitles.

There are some words you may want to look up in the dictionary on your right before watching the video:

mould

rotting (to rot)

a toaster

grounds for

committal

Enjoy!

Subtitled:

Egypt treasures saved

The video we have for today is an overview of the looting in Cairo's Egyptian Museum. After watching the video, pay attention to the vocabulary in bold in the sentences taken from the text: can you explain their meaning, provide a synonym, or give a translation of them?

…signs of the recent turmoil when the area was engulfed in violence and looters tried to get hold of Egypt’s most valuable treasures…
… curators at the museum are now busy restoring them…
… The rioting and street battles in central Cairo happened right next to the Egyptian Museum…
… and so the museum’s real treasures, like the priceless mask of King Tut, survived, unscathed…
… when the uprising here began, there was a lot of fear that looters could get in here …
…after a short rampage through the museum, the sole looter was caught…
… more looters actually made it on to the premises, but they didn’t go into the museum …
…The Egyptian Army has taken over security for the museum. Soldiers kept an eye on us as we got our tour, and tanks are in place outside after a close call for some of the world’s most famous ancient treasures…

Enjoy!

Frankenstein exhibition and play

The video for today explores the creation of the novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, which is back in the news thanks to a theatre play on show at the National Theatre.

Try to find the following information, and feel free to post your answers as a comment, including any evidence from the video. Something that you might want to be careful about is the name Shelley, which can refer both to the author of the novel (Mary) and to her husband, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Mind the context to know which of the two they're talking about at each point.

Enjoy!

1. Why is the presenter at the Bodleian Library in Oxford?

2. Date of the Shelleys’ trip to Geneva:

3. Expression to tell us that they are getting on well with their host:

4. Why did they have to spend most of the time indoors?

5. Who suggested that they all write a ghost story?

6. Where did Mary get the idea for Frankenstein from?

7. Number of novels she had written up to that moment:

8. What’s happened to Mary Shelley’s notebook?

9. Who wrote on the margins of the pages? Why?

10. What happens in the passage that they have in from of them?

11. Shelley tried to persuade her to _____________ to her great history inheritance.

12. Mary Wollstonecraft (author of A Vindication of the Rights of Women) was her __________

13. Full date of first publication:

14. Where did Walter Scott publish his guess that the novel might be by Shelley?

Smoking ban: in England it's even worse!

If you don't believe me, just look at this clip from the hilarious The IT Crowd. It is easy enough to be watched without subtitles, but I made a version with subtitles in case you want to check later. Enjoy!

Without subtitles




Subtitled

BBC News - Egypt

Hi,

Some comprehension questions on this video from BBC News. After doing the activity, write a comment with the corresponding evidence from the video so we can see the rewriting and synomyms in each gap.

1. In his decision to step back in September, Mubarak's opponents think that he is trying to give his government ___________________________________

2. As a result of the electoral process, the US government demand that they lift ___________ and that they make ________________________

3. Foreigners are accused of instigating protests by ______________________

4. The protests don't seem to peter out, after running for ______________________

5. The Egyptian government insists that they are moving towards __________________

A song for collocations (all levels)

The activity for this song focuses on one aspect of a language that you should really pay attention to. You will not find any single-word gaps in this exercise, because we will be looking for collocations. In some cases, there will even be more than two words in a gap.

When you have finished the listening activity, the best way to record the vocabulary learnt is to write down the full collocation in a dictionary-like form (infinitive if it's a verb, etc.), and a contextualised example next to it. So, once you've finished, I'll be waiting for your list of collocations in the comments, where you will also find the full lyrics.

The song is by Supertramp, and it was released in 1979 in the album Breakfast in America.

Goodbye Stranger (1979)

IT WAS AN _______________ YESTERDAY
I WAS UP BEFORE THE DAWN
AND I REALLY HAVE ENJOYED MY STAY
BUT I MUST BE _______________

LIKE A KING WITHOUT A CASTLE
LIKE A QUEEN WITHOUT A THRONE
I´M AN EARLY MORNING LOVER
AND I MUST BE MOVING ON

NOW I BELIEVE IN WHAT YOU SAY
IT’S __________________________
BUT I HAVE TO ________________ OWN _______________
TO KEEP ME IN MY YOUTH

LIKE A SHIP WITHOUT AN ANCHOR
LIKE A SLAVE WITHOUT A CHAIN
JUST THE THOUGHT OF THOSE SWEET LADIES
SENDS A SHIVER THROUGH MY VEINS

AND I WILL GO ON SHINING
SHINING LIKE _______________
I´LL NEVER LOOK BEHIND ME
MY TROUBLES WILL BE FEW

GOODBYE STRANGER, IT´S BEEN NICE
HOPE YOU FIND YOUR PARADISE
TRIED TO SEE YOUR _______________
HOPE _______________ WILL ALL _______________
GOODBYE MARY, GOODBYE JANE
WILL WE EVER MEET AGAIN_______________, FEEL NO SHAME
COME TOMORROW , _______________

Sweet devotion
It's not for me
Just give me motion
And _______________
And the Land and the Ocean
_______________
It's the life I've chosen
Every Day
So Goodbye Mary, Goodbye Jane
Will we ever meet again (x2)

NOW SOME THEY DO AND SOME THEY DON´T
AND SOME YOU JUST _______________
AND SOME THEY WILL AND SOME THEY WON´T
WITH SOME IT´S JUST AS WELL

YOU CAN _______________ MY BEHAVIOUR
THAT´LL NEVER BOTHER ME
SAY THE DEVIL IS MY SAVIOR
BUT I _______________

AND I WILL GO ON SHINING
SHINING LIKE _______________
I´LL NEVER LOOK BEHIND ME
MY TROUBLES WILL BE FEW

GOODBYE STRANGER, IT´S BEEN NICE...

Sweet devotion
is not for me
Just give me motion
And _______________
And the Land and the Ocean
_______________
It's the life I've chosen
Every Day

So now I'm leaving, got to go, _______________
I'm saying once again
Oh yes I'm leaving, got to go, got to go
I'm sorry I must tell you
Goodbye Mary, Goodbye Jane
Will we ever meet again (x2)

I believe, Yes I've got to get away

GOODBYE STRANGER, IT´S BEEN NICE...

Movie song: connected speech

Hello everyone! Happy New Year!

The New Year brings a song by Bernie Taupin and Elton John, quite apt for the unit on cinema. The exercise focuses on connected speech, so each gap needs to be filled with two words. As you can imagine, that means a weak word is very likely to be in it, so pay a lot of attention and use your grammar knowledge before listening and between one listening and the next. To complete the gaps in the chorus, you shouldn't try to complete both gaps in one go. Remember the chorus is repeated quite a lot of times, so don't rush.

You will find the complete lyrics as a comment to this entry.

You may also want to read this review of Elton John's latest album. I suggest that you isolate those words or phrases that would lead you to buy (or not buy) the record, just as you did with the film reviews, and share them with the rest as a comment.

Above all, enjoy the song. I must confess it is one of my all-time favourites.

I've Seen That Movie Too

Album: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Music: Elton John

Lyrics: Bernie Taupin

I can see by your eyes you must _________________

When you think I don't have _________________

Baby _________________ crazy

If you think that you can _________________

Because I've seen that movie too

The one where the players _________________ surprised

_________________'s just a four letter word

Between forcing smiles, with the knives in _________________

Well their actions become _________________

So keep _________________ for somebody

Who hasn't got so much _________________

'Cause you _________________ by _________________ I'm reciting

That I've seen that movie too

(repeat chorus)

It's a habit I have, I _________________ pushed around

Stop twinkling your star like you do

I'm not the _________________ for all of your _________________

Because I've seen that movie too

The one where the players _________________ surprised

_________________'s just a four letter word

Between forcing smiles, with the knives in _________________

Well their actions become _________________

So keep _________________ for somebody

Who hasn't got so much _________________

'Cause you _________________ by _________________ I'm reciting

That I've seen that movie too

(repeat chorus)